A Vision Board With the Obstacles Left In: Nine Sections From Prosperity to Helpful People, and a Reflection on What Motivates Me at School and at Home
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PSY/110: Psychology of Learning
Week 5 Vision Board and Reflection Worksheet
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The student is a composite written for a model worksheet.
This is the last week of the course, and my second business class starts in two weeks, while the dispatch job and my son's homework carry on as before. I built my vision board on a sheet of poster board that now hangs next to the kitchen table where my son and I do homework. This week's reading gave me one reason to build the board differently: a picture of what I want can make me feel as if I already have it. Kappes and Oettingen (2011) found that people who fantasized positively about an idealized future showed lower energy, measured by physiology and self-report, than people who imagined a more realistic or questioned version. Oettingen (2012) describes the alternative, mental contrasting: imagining the wished-for future, then the main obstacle in the present, which links the wish to the effort it needs. So every section of my board has a wish, the obstacle in the way and an if-then plan written on a sticky note underneath.
Part 1: My Vision Board
Prosperity
Image: a small two-bedroom house with a yard and a swing. Obstacle: I have saved for a down payment for three years and have about a third of it. Plan: if I get a raise or a tax refund, then half goes straight into the house fund before I see it.
Aspiration
Image: my name on an office door that says Dispatch Manager. Obstacle: two past rejections that make me hesitate to apply. Plan: if the job is posted again, then I apply the same week and ask the last person promoted for advice.
Time Management
Image: my weekly calendar with study blocks from 8:45 to 10:15 on four nights. Obstacle: my phone. Plan: if my son is in bed, then my phone goes on the kitchen charger.
Family
Image: a photo of my son and me reading on the couch. Obstacle: study nights that crowd out reading time. Plan: reading happens before studying, every night, no exceptions.
Motivators
Image: my son's drawing of me "at college." Obstacle: late in a term, tiredness beats motivation. Plan: if I want to skip a study night, then I look at the drawing and do twenty minutes first.
Goals
Words: "Bachelor's degree in four years. 3.3 GPA. Late deliveries under 3%." Obstacle: vague goals slide. Plan: I check each goal on the first Sunday of every month.
Skills and Knowledge
Images: an accounting textbook and a pen on a blank page. Obstacle: writing still scares me. Plan: every paper goes to the writing center a week before it is due.
Career and Life Path
Image: a simple timeline: degree in 2029, manager by 2030, house by 2031. Obstacle: one bad year could push everything back. Plan: I will treat the dates as targets, not deadlines, and adjust them rather than quit.
Helpful People
Photos of my sister, my supervisor and the writing center's website. Obstacle: I do not like to ask. Plan: if I have been stuck for more than a day, then I ask one of these people.
Part 2: Reflection
What motivates you in your academic life, and is it different from what motivates you in your personal life? Why or why not?
At school, I am motivated partly by outside rewards, a promotion and a higher salary, and increasingly by the satisfaction of understanding something difficult. At home, I am motivated almost entirely from inside: I read with my son because I love it, not for any reward. Ryan and Deci (2000) found that motivation that comes from interest and personal values tends to last longer than motivation driven by outside rewards. That is why I have tried to connect school to my family, so that my academic motivation borrows some of the strength of my personal one.
How have you changed since the beginning of this course?
In Week 1 I rated my confidence six out of ten and said my risks were time and avoidance. Today I would rate it an eight. I study four nights a week instead of cramming on Sundays, I quiz myself instead of rereading and I accepted my sister's help, which I had been refusing for months.
Which psychological concepts helped you most?
Three. If-then plans, because they removed the nightly decision about whether to study. The values assessment, because it showed me that family and security, not achievement, are what keep me going. And the problem-solving steps, which turned the closing of my son's after-school program from a crisis into a plan that is working.
How will you use your vision board?
It hangs where I study. On the first Sunday of each month, I will review each section, move a sticky note if a plan is no longer working and add a new obstacle if one appears. The board is not a wish list. It is a plan I can see.
Summary
My vision board shows nine areas of my life, and every wish on it is paired with the obstacle in the way and a plan to meet it. Building it that way follows research showing that imagining a good future helps only when it is joined with the obstacles and the effort it takes. The reflection showed me how much has changed in five weeks, and the board will keep those changes in front of me as the next course begins.
References
Kappes, H. B., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(4), 719-729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.02.003
Oettingen, G. (2012). Future thought and behaviour change. European Review of Social Psychology, 23(1), 1-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2011.643698
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
How this PSY 110 Week 5 example is structured
Student-shared copies of the PSY/110 Week 5 assignment show the My Vision Board and Reflection Worksheet: a board divided into labeled sections such as prosperity, aspiration, time management, family, motivators, goals, skills and knowledge, career or life path and helpful people, followed by short written reflections. The sample describes each section as it appears on the board, then answers the reflection questions, and it grounds the board in research on how imagining the future helps or hurts effort. Students search this week as PSY 110 Week 5, PSY110 Wk 5 or PSY/110 Wk 5; all three are the same assignment.
PSY/110 Week 5 questions, answered
What does PSY/110 Week 5 usually ask for?
Student-shared copies show the My Vision Board and Reflection Worksheet: create a vision board with labeled sections, often prosperity, aspiration, time management, family, motivators, goals, skills and knowledge, career or life path and helpful people, and write short reflections on it and on the course. Your worksheet sets the sections and word ranges.
Does a vision board actually work?
Imagining a good future by itself can lower the energy people put into reaching it. Research on mental contrasting finds that pairing the wished-for future with the obstacles in the way, and planning how to handle them, supports action. A board that includes obstacles and plans uses that finding.
How should I describe images I cannot paste?
Name the image and say why you chose it and which section it belongs to. Your instructor is grading the connection between the images and your goals, so a clear description with its reason is what matters.
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